Beautiful Eyes
For the lyrics see Beautiful Eyes (lyrics) Beautiful Eyes is the second extended play released by American country-pop recording artist Taylor Swift. The EP was released on July 15, 2008 by Big Machine Records exclusively to Wal-Mart stores in the United States and online. The limited release EP has a primarily country pop sound and features alternate versions of tracks from her debut album, Taylor Swift (2006), and two original tracks, "Beautiful Eyes" and "I Heart ?", songs which she had previously written; a DVD, featuring music videos of singles from Taylor Swift, is also included on the physical release of the EP. Beautiful Eyes peaked at number nine on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 and atop Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, succeeding her self-titled debut album. "I Heart ?" was released as a promotional single in June 2008. The EP was not heavily promoted, though, Swift has performed the title track at different venues. Background ", which is featured on Beautiful Eyes.]] Swift received much success with the release of her self-titled debut album Taylor Swift (2006), and began working on her second studio album, Fearless (2008), in 2007. During that time, she received a number of e-mails from fans requesting for new material to be released, which drove Swift into releasing Beautiful Eyes: "I thought this might tide them over till the new album comes out in the fall." ''Beautiful Eyes is musically oriented to country pop and contemporary music. }|work=''Allmusic|publisher=Macrovision Corporation|accessdate=January 9, 2010}} It includes new versions of tracks from ''Taylor Swift: an alternate version of "Should've Said No", the fifth single from the album, an acoustic version of "Teardrops on My Guitar", the second single from the album, a radio edit of "Picture to Burn", the fourth single from the album, and "I'm Only Me when I'm with You", a promotional single from the album. The EP also features two original songs, "Beautiful Eyes" and "I Heart ?", which she previously wrote in 2003. The EP's DVD features music videos from the singles from Taylor Swift, as well as a music video made for "Beautiful Eyes" from footage from Swift's eighteenth birthday party. Swift did not want any misconceptions of Beautiful Eyes as her second album and therefore partnered with the American retail company Wal-Mart to make the EP an exclusive release. The album was only made available through American Wal-Mart stores and Wal-Mart's website. Furthermore, it was made a limited release because Swift only allowed Big Machine Records to manufacture a certain amount of copies of the EP. She said, "I’m only letting my record company make a small amount of these. The last thing I want any of you to think is that we are putting out too many releases." Chart performance On the week ending August 2, 2008, Beautiful Eyes debuted at number nine on the ''Billboard'' 200 due to sales of 45,000 copies. The EP spent a total of twenty weeks on the Billboard 200. On the same week, it debuted at number one on Top Country Albums, replacing her own album Taylor Swift as the chart's number one album. With Taylor Swift charting at number two, Swift became the first artist to hold the first two positions on Top Country Albums since LeAnn Rimes charted in 1997 with Blue (1996) and Unchained Melody: The Early Years (1997). The following week, the EP slipped to number two and, in total, it spent twenty eight weeks on Top Country Albums. Promotion "I Heart ?" was released as promotional single from Beautiful Eyes on June 23, 2008. }|work=''Allmusic|publisher=Rovi Corporation|accessdate=June 14, 2010}} Swift promoted ''Beautiful Eyes minimally for the reason being she did not want for misconceptions of the EP being her second album, although she did perform the title track at different venues. She first performed "Beautiful Eyes" on January 23, 2005 at the 2005 NAMM Show, an annual music product trade show held in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center. The performance featured Swift, dressed in a red blouse and blue jeans, performing acoustically with a guitar, sitting on a bar stool. "Beautiful Eyes" was later performed as part of Swift's set for Stripped on August 5, 2008; she wore a black, one-shoulder dress and performed with a back-up band while playing a rhinestoned acoustic guitar. Track listings Standard edition The standard packaging of the physical release of Beautiful Eyes includes two discs: one a CD for audio and a DVD for videos. Charts and procession Charts Personnel *Scott Borchetta - executive producer *Nathan Chapman - producer *Robert Ellis Orrall - producer *Taylor Swift - lead vocals References Category:2008 EPs Category:Taylor Swift albums Category:Big Machine Records EPs Category:Unreleased songs